US stocks boosted by start of holiday shopping season

Shares of leading retailers rose early Friday, lifting US stocks as the holiday shopping season kicked off amid expectations of solid sales.

Shares of Wal-Mart Stores rose 1.1 percent, while Target gained 0.7 percent and Amazon 0.5 percent However, Macy's lost 0.9 percent and Best Buy was flat.

Leading forecasters have projected that US holiday shopping sales will rise around three to four percent compared with last year.

About 25 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had gained 0.3 percent to 19,129.945.

The broad-based S&P 500 was up 0.2 percent to 2,209.06, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.1 percent to 5,384.65.

The Dow and S&P 500 closed at records on Wednesday prior to the Thanksgiving holiday. Markets will close early Friday.

Analysts described trading volume as low, with many employees taking the day off.

Johnson & Johnson was in the news, with reports it had approached drugmaker Actelion with an eye towards acquiring the Swiss company. Bloomberg described the talks as at an early stage. The Dow member rose 0.6 percent.